Jo Metcalfe on Suffolk Sound: National Tree Week and Springfield Junior School
Our founder Jo Metcalfe joined Karen Cannard on Suffolk Sound during National Tree Week to discuss our work across Suffolk, from corporate biodiversity projects to an exciting school transformation in Ipswich.
Corporate Services: Riduna Park
Karen and Jo visited our flagship site at Riduna Park, Melton, where we manage the grounds around East Suffolk Council offices. The tour showcased our pond tables—raised ponds designed for both wildlife and staff wellbeing. Staff use the nature-rich space during breaks, with over 20 local residents now regularly walking the site to enjoy the wildlife.
Protecting Veteran Trees
During National Tree Week, Jo highlighted the importance of protecting ancient trees. An oak can support 200 different species of wildlife and takes around 150 years to die—providing crucial habitat throughout its decline. We now work with specialist ecologists to advise corporate clients on tree management, following the Ancient Tree Forum's approach to preserving these national treasures.
Springfield Junior School: Creating a Green Oasis
We're transforming Springfield Junior School's playground in Ipswich. With 341 children—many without gardens—the school currently has a tarmac expanse that needs greening.
The £30,000 project will feature:
Raised beds with bench seating
Vertical planting on walls and fences
Pergolas for shade and shelter
Tree pits maintained by students
We've secured £13,000 so far from the school, Evolution Academy grants, and Suffolk Masonic Lodges. We're calling on Ipswich businesses to help us reach our target within six months through sponsorship or volunteer events.
Schools Work
We deliver horticultural therapy across Suffolk schools, with 27 currently on our waiting list. Our programmes teach children about food growing, wildlife conservation, and native species—many have never seen a frog or toad. For students who struggle with classroom learning, these outdoor spaces can be transformative.
Get Involved
Support Springfield Junior School: Contact us about sponsorship or volunteering opportunities.
Corporate Services: Every corporate contract helps fund our work with SEND schools and vulnerable communities. We support biodiversity net gain, staff wellbeing initiatives, and CSR objectives.
Cultivating a 1000‑Tree Community Woodland at Elm Tree School
This spring, Greener Growth partnered with Discover the World Education and Seeding Hope CIC to plant a 1000‑tree community woodland at Elm Tree School. Sponsored by climate‑conscious students and supported by local schools, volunteers, and HMP Wayland’s nursery, this living classroom is already fostering outdoor classroom spaces, community reforestation, and meaningful climate action for schools.
A 1000‑Tree School Woodland Planting
In February, over 60 schools travelled with Discover the World Education to sponsor and help plant 1,000 native trees at Elm Tree School. From oak and field maple to hawthorn and walnut, each sapling represents a student’s commitment to a greener future.
Community Reforestation and Educational Woodland
This initiative goes beyond school woodland planting. It’s a model for community reforestation, uniting students, teachers, local businesses, and councils in a shared mission to enhance local ecosystems and create an educational woodland open to all.
Tree Planting with Children: Building Climate Action
By involving children directly in planting days, we empower the next generation with hands‑on experience in tree planting with children. From sponsoring saplings on geography trips to battling climate anxiety, our project turns concern into concrete climate action for schools.
Tree Planting lessonApple treePlanting with passionYoung Field MapleTeam Work!Apple Tree
Protecting Young Trees: Fencing and Tree Protection Efforts
Successful tree planting means protecting young trees from deer, rabbits, and other threats. We installed robust fencing with three secure gates and applied mulch around each trunk to conserve moisture and discourage pests.
Future Plans: Ponds, Habitats, and Nature Trails
Next on the horizon are wildlife ponds, habitat havens, bench seats, and a winding nature trail. These features will transform the woodland into a year‑round biodiversity project, supporting amphibians, insects, and local wildlife, and enriching outdoor learning.
Continuing the Journey: Sponsorship and Future Planting Sites
Our work doesn’t stop here. We’re actively seeking new schools and communities to host future school woodland planting projects. Sponsorship opportunities are available now—join us in planting the next 10,000 trees and expanding outdoor classrooms across the UK.
Seedling Projects with HMP Wayland’s Nursery
Thanks to Taylor Investments and HMP Wayland’s nursery, 10,000 new tree seeds are in cultivation, destined for planting later this year. Keep an eye out for our upcoming seedling distribution days and volunteer events!
Join the Greener Growth Community Woodland Movement! 🌱 Contact us to discuss your own school woodland planting or community reforestation project. 🤝 Sponsor future planting and help us reach 10,000 trees and beyond. 🔄 Share this story on social media to inspire other schools and volunteers! 📧 Email: [email protected]
Transforming School Grounds with Sustainable Grounds Care
At Greener Growth, we believe every school and business deserves vibrant, eco-friendly landscaping that educates and inspires. Our greener maintenance contracts go beyond routine upkeep, integrating organic, sustainable grounds care with hands‑on green education programmes. Discover how our glyphosate‑free approach is reducing carbon footprints, boosting biodiversity in schools, and creating lasting outdoor learning spaces that engage children and communities alike.
Eco‑Friendly Landscaping for Schools and Commercial Clients
Our school grounds maintenance services set the standard for eco-friendly landscaping. By choosing organic methods, we help institutions of all sizes, from primary schools to corporate business parks, maintain lush, healthy green spaces without harmful sprays or chemicals.
Organic, Sustainable Grounds Care
With a commitment to sustainable grounds care, Greener Growth uses only organic fertilisers and natural pest‑management techniques. Our teams create composting systems on site, compost bays, leaf‑mould cages, and wormeries, that recycle green waste into nutrient‑rich compost, closing the loop on garden waste and supporting healthy plant growth. In addition, this enables us to keep all green waste on site which has a huge impact on organisational carbon neutrality.
Enhancing Biodiversity in Schools
Our programmes focus on biodiversity in schools, planting native shrubs, willow classrooms, heritage orchards and wildflower margins to create wildlife corridors and pollinator habitats. These living classrooms introduce students to conservation and help institutions meet biodiversity net‑gain targets.
Glyphosate‑Free Maintenance Practices
We’re proud to offer truly glyphosate-free grounds maintenance. By eliminating so-called “safe” chemical sprays, we safeguard children, staff, waterways and local wildlife, while still delivering pristine playing fields, playgrounds, and ornamental sensory gardens with therapeutic and educational impact.
Work on a commercial maintenance contract
Outdoor Learning and Green Education Programmes
Our Greener Maintenance Contracts double as outdoor learning opportunities. We partner with teachers to develop seasonal workshops—seed sowing, compost‑making, wildlife monitoring—that bring biology, ecology, and sustainability into the curriculum. Children learn by doing, and schools tick all their sustainability targets and green education programme boxes.
Growth in Demand: Why More Schools Are Choosing Greener Maintenance
Demand for our Greener Maintenance Contracts is surging among schools, particularly academies, trusts, and commercial landlords alike. Clients appreciate our ability to help secure additional funding, help increase green infrastructure, and deliver on sustainability goals—all while creating engaging green spaces.
Ready to grow greener together? Contact Greener Growth today to discuss a custom school grounds maintenance plan or commercial eco‑landscaping package. Let’s reduce your carbon footprint, boost biodiversity, and inspire students through hands‑on outdoor learning. 👉 Email: [email protected] 🔗 Share this post and help spread the word about sustainable grounds care!
Greener Growth recognised with Suffolk Award for work at Riverwalk School, Bury St Edmunds, during coronavirus
By Sam Walker - [email protected] Published: 15:22, 25 May 2021 | Updated: 15:32, 25 May 2021
A community interest company that rejuvenates neglected areas and makes them ‘biodiversity enhancing’ has been awarded a Suffolk Award for their work at a Bury St Edmunds school over the coronavirus pandemic.
Joannah Metcalfe and Wesley Stanford from Greener Growth met Suffolk’s High Sheriff Edward Creasy and his wife Penny last Friday to be officially handed over the award recognising their work carried out at Riverwalk School since last March, and also their work more broadly across the region.
Joannah said her and her team had been working ‘unremittingly’ over the past year but were shocked to have been recognised with a High Sheriff award.
HIgh Sheriff of Suffolk Edward Creasy presents the Suffolk Award to Joannah Metcalfe from Greener Growth. Picture: Andy Abbott.
“We were completely stunned,” she said. “We used to enter other competitions but we haven’t touched anything for over a year because we have been so busy.
“So to have some recognition that it wasn’t so easy is nice.”
Greener Growth have been working with Riverwalk School for around four years and in that time have set to work building habitat havens, willow plantations and a new pagoda to offer shade and cover for staff and pupils.
Greener Growth have been working with Riverwalk School for four years. Picture: Andy Abbott.
Jan Hatchell, headteacher, said it was the company’s willingness to accommodate the school’s needs that had been such a positive for them though.
“We have been finding ways to develop the outside spaces and Greener Growth have little by little developed things for the children,” she said.
She added: “We know exactly what we need for the children.
“Whatever we feel, they will find a way to do it which is why we’ve stuck with them.”
Jan Hatchell, headteacher at Riverwalk School, with former pupil Sandy Mowat. Picture: Mark Westley.
Edward Creasy, the High Sheriff of Suffolk, said: “Despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, Greener Growth has continued working to allow everyone to enjoy the benefits of living in a greener environment, and the wonderful work they have done at the Riverwalk School has been truly inspirational, making a real difference to the pupils’ lives.”
With the help of the Lottery funded Orchards East project which has given us 36 wonderful heritage fruit trees we were able to get to work at Tollgate Primary School in December.
Our second project at Tollgate Primary, the children thoroughly enjoyed planting the trees and worked very hard to ensure that this was an orchard to be proud of. Indeed, they showed exceptional committment - as did the staff!
Tollgate Primary remains one of our most committed schools in the area and it is a pleasure to help grow food and conserve wildlife on these gorgeous grounds and with such a supportive group of teachers.
Our next project - number 3 on this site - will involve renovating the wildlife pond and putting in hedgehog boxes. Stay tuned!
Meantime, we'll leave you with some photos of the children's activities from December.
Greener Growth worker Fiona Till and Tollgate kids
These guys mean business!
Budding gardeners in the making...These trees are going to have a great start!
We all know that being outside, growing fresh fruit and veg and helping nature, is better than being stuck inside, breathing re-circulated air and eating processed food. ‘Greener Growth’ is striving to change the balance − and winning.
I first met Joannah Metcalfe in prison. (That didn’t come out right. Start again.) I first met Joannah Metcalfe in the grounds of an open prison where soon-to-be-released inmates and her organisation Greener Growth were reviving a walled garden. The bountiful borders and plots of flowers and vegetables were firm evidence of the principle of “Recovery Through Nature” – for land and man.
That was the summer of 2014 – the year after Jo started spreading the message about the sense of purpose and achievement gained from growing things and helping wildlife. Today, the figures trip off her tongue.
“Greener Growth has planted over 1,000 Heritage fruit trees since we last met, been involved in the lives of just under 12,000 children, worked with about 2,500 prisoners, put up about 200 birdboxes, 200 batboxes and 30-ish hedgehog boxes.”
Jo definitely doesn’t let the grass grow under her feet. Well, actually, she does – if she can.
Basically, it’s all about people making the world a better place and feeling happier and healthier, in body and soul, through growing food and transforming underused land. Outside spaces are “re-greened” and become great habitats for wildlife.
The focus is on “permaculture” – a chemical-free, self-sustaining, low-impact philosophy – and building a sense of togetherness through shared activity.
Greener Growth is working in three main areas: prisons, schools, and communities.
An example: Wayland jail near Thetford. Work there has turned old buildings and aviary into a potting shed and greenhouse. There are nine large timber-framed raised beds, along with four wildlife ponds, willow boundary fences, arbours, a memorial garden, and more.
By Laura Nolan | Bury Free Press Photo: Cllr Paul Hopfensperger with Paul Hebditch, Project Manager of Greener Growth, and Sam Hardy, Director of Greener Growth along with a couple of local children. PICTURE: Mecha Morton.
New features are being added to a woodland project on Bury St Edmunds’ Howard Estate including a wildlife and nature conservation area.
The St Olaves Woodland was given funding by Councillor Paul Hopfensperger, using his locality budget.
Greener Growth, a community based group that helps people better themselves by growing food and transforming outdoor spaces, is leading the project which is designed to help combat social isolation.
A nature trail is being developed by using Cllr Hopfensperger’s locality budget.
Phase one of the development includes a nature trail through the woods, allowing people to walk through the more dense areas of the woodland easily.
Phase two of the project, which began on Monday, is designed to allow wildlife to flourish in the St Olaves Woodland area by introducing bird, bat and hedgehog boxes, an insect hotel, rustic benches and a woodchip pathway.
Cllr Hopfensperger said: “Phase three includes a classroom in the woods for children to learn about nature, the children will come from Tollgate and Howard Primary and have lessons in here.”
Greener Growth already does similar projects in surrounding primary schools, including Howard Primary.
Sam Hardy, director at Greener Growth, said: “We’re hoping this will bring the area to life.”
Also involved in the project is Ernie Broom, chairman of the Howard Estate Association of Residents and Tenants.
Tollgate Primary School
Tollgate Primary School
This won’t make the front pages, simply because Good News doesn’t sell many newspapers. . .
However, at Greener Growth we like to try and provide some balance in life, as we do in nature!
Just after completing the final touches for the Oaks Road Memorial Orchard, and before we start work on the St Olaves Woodland Project, we are continuing our work at Tollgate Primary School, thanks to the Bury St Edmunds Town Council.
We approached the Council in June, to ask for help to finish phase 1 of the wildlife gardens and pond area for their large concrete playground.
The application was completed, Joannah Metcalfe presented (beautifully) to the councillors at the recent meeting at the end of July and we started the work today! Hurrah!
Tollgate Primary School, Bury St. Edmunds | New planters and insect hotels
We know how much the work is appreciated by the parents, the staff, and the pupils at the school. We are very well supported by the teachers Claire Bates and David Morris. We received a lovely postcard from Claire just after they finished the Summer Term.
Hopefully the children will love the new bird feeder, the bird and bat boxes as well as the extra raised beds and seating areas.
Not only will this produce food, they will massively increase the biodiversity on site, as well as covering up some unsightly and unused drains. . .
A great example of the people in Bury St. Edmunds coming together as a community to support each other!
Phase 2 will be in the Autumn, if we can get more funding- watch this (green) space!”
Raised beds at Westley School
Raised Beds at Westley School
Our founder director Joannah Metcalfe has always employed the values and systems of permaculture.
Whilst this latest set of raised beds do look rather outstanding, and have great value for education, biodiversity as well as being food producing. . . they are also designed with permaculture principles in mind.
Principle 11 to be precise;
'Use edges & value the marginal'
'Don't think you are on the right track just because it's a well-beaten path'
The interface between things is where the most interesting events take place. These are often the most valuable, diverse and productive elements in the system.
'Transforming the urban edge'
The urban environment is full of edges, each with it’s own unique potential for transformation.
You can see more examples of this on the Permaculture Principles website
Not only can parents, teachers, students and visitors see how nature operates as they walk past - it also prevents those nasty brown patches where everyone cuts the corners! The seats add respite from the heat, allow for social interaction, as well as good access to the beds for those less able to stand. Of course, one of the major advantages of the raised bed is the accessibility for people that can’t reach the ground.
Raised garden beds (also called garden boxes) are great for growing small plots of veggies and flowers. They keep pathway weeds from your garden soil, prevent soil compaction, provide good drainage, and serve as a barrier to pests such as slugs and snails.
We have all four corners of the largest green completed, and we are picking red onions, potatoes and herbs already! This is the first corner of the smaller green at Westley with three more to go!
This particular corner has only been possible to install because of the Tesco Bags of Help
We are reliant on funding and grant money to do this valuable work. The whole community at Westley will benefit, and anyone that would like to help can do so here
